The present invention relates generally to gas analysis, and more particularly to systems and methods for measuring concentrations of gases.
The increasing carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and the resulting greenhouse effect and climate change have become important topics for scientific research. In order to understand the global carbon balance, it is necessary to determine the rate at which carbon dioxide and energy exchanges between the atmosphere and terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems. A measurement technique called “eddy covariance” has been widely used to determine these rates. The air within a few hundred meters above the earth surface is mostly turbulent, so that turbulent structures (vortices of variable sizes) called “eddies” are responsible for the vertical transport of the most of the gases, including carbon dioxide and water vapor, and also heat and momentum between the surface and the atmosphere. The rates of such transport can be calculated from simultaneous, high-frequency measurements of the vertical component of wind speed, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor, and the air temperature.
To measure concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor, a gas analyzer can be used to analyze the transmittance of light in appropriate wavelength bands through a gas sample. With some gas analyzers, a sample gas containing unknown gas concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor is placed in a sample cell, and a reference gas with zero or known concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor is placed in a reference cell. The analyzer measures the unknown gas concentrations in the sample cell from calibrated signals that are proportional to the difference between light transmitted through the sample cell and light transmitted through the reference cell.
In eddy covariance applications, ambient air that is full of dust and pollen must be moved through the analyzer at high flow rates in order for the analyzer to have the necessary frequency response. Even when the air is filtered, contamination of the sample cells is to be expected especially during long deployments, requiring the analyzer to be returned to the factory for cleaning. This is an expensive and time-consuming process, especially when the analyzer is used in a remote location such as the Amazon basin, the north slope of Alaska, or the deserts of Africa.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved gas analyzer. In particular, there is a need for gas analyzers that are easy to clean and that provide robust measurement capabilities.